The Kaleo Designer gives you a convenient and intuitive interface for creating workflow definitions, from the simplest approval processes to the most complex business processes you can imagine. It features a drag and drop interface, workflow definition versioning, and the ability to configure definitions and their nodes. With Kaleo Designer you might never need to look at a single line of XML. If you didn’t have Kaleo Designer, your entire worklfow definition would need to be hand crafted in XML. Of course, the Kaleo Designer also provides the ability to directly manipulate the XML (using the Source tab), if you find it convenient.
So how do you add a workflow definition?
Adding New Workflow Definitions with Kaleo Designer
Access Kaleo Designer by going to the Control Panel, then clicking
Configuration → Kaleo Designer. Click the Add icon
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Give the workflow definition a title and you’re ready to start designing your workflow.
Figure 1: The Kaleo Designer's graphical interface makes designing workflows intuitive.
Saving and Publishing Workflow Definitions
First, look below the canvas to see the buttons that let you Save as Draft, Publish, or Cancel. Saving the definition as a draft lets you save your work so it’s not lost (due to a timeout, for example). It won’t be published (and usable in Liferay DXP), and it won’t be considered a version until the Publish button is clicked. Each time you save the workflow as a draft, the Draft Version field is incremented, and each time you publish the workflow, a new Version is added.
Figure 2: View a list of the current workflows that can be edited in the Kaleo Designer.
Adding Nodes
A new workflow is already populated with a start node, an end node, and a transition between them. To make the workflow the way you want it, you need to add nodes to the workflow.
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Drag a node from the Nodes palette on the right of the designer and drop it on the canvas.
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You’ll see it’s not connected to other nodes by a transition, so right now it can’t be used in the workflow. Delete the existing transition and then you can make new transitions to direct the flow of your workflow (see more about transitions below if you’re not sure what they’re for or how to use them in Kaleo Designer).
Alternatively, start by deleting the default transition, then click the edge of the start node, drag a new transition from the start node to a blank spot on the canvas, and release it. You’ll be prompted to create a node at that spot, because you can’t have a transition without a starting point and an ending point on a node.
Figure 3: You can add a node by creating a transition that ends at a blank spot on your Designer canvas.
That’s it. Of course, if you drag, say, a Task node onto the canvas, you’ll want to configure it.
Node Settings
Now you know how to add nodes to the workflow definition. By default you have three things added to your canvas: a start node, a transition, and an end node. Think of the EndNode as the point in the workflow where an asset reaches the Approved status. The StartNode is the point at which the asset goes from the Draft status to Pending. You might decide to name your nodes to reflect what’s going on in each one. To name a node, just double click it, and its Settings are displayed. Then double click the value of the Name property and you can edit the name. Click Save when you’re done.
Figure 4: You can edit a node's settings.
Of course, there’s more you can do besides changing node names. Actions, Notifications, and Assignments can be used to make your workflow definition really useful and interactive. Keep reading to learn about these features.